Jingorō Amayo
Jingorou Amayo (雨夜陣五郎, Amayo Jingorō) is a member of the Iga Tsubagakure clan and one of the ten ninja selected by Ogen to participate in the war against the Kouga. Appearance Jingorou is a terrible looking man with pale grey, wrinkled skin covered in circular marks. His balding hair is black and shabby and his ears are pointed like an elf's. He wears a very shabby, pale-coloured kosode with pale green hakama, tied with a rope. He doesn't appear to wear shoes. In his dissolved form he is much smaller, with very small arms and no legs. He is too small for clothes in this form, meaning that he doesn't wear any. He is good pals with Akeginu. Biography Trapping Gennosuke in Iga Jingorou first appears with Akeginu, Hotarubi and Nenki to escort Oboro back to Iga after her time out with Gennosuke Kouga. The group are interrupted by the appearance of Jousuke Udono and Rousai, who claims Jousuke has stolen a scroll belonging to Iga. Gennosuke orders Jousuke to return the scroll, which he does. Jingorou tells Gennosuke that he should not look inside the scroll, which upsets Oboro. He then reads the scroll with the others when Gennosuke, Jousuke and Oboro are out of earshot. They learn of the treaty being broken and, after getting over the shock, begin to laugh. When Oboro asks what's written in it Jingorou lies and tells her Ogen has wrote that the treaty is secured. Nenki suggests Gennosuke should go to Iga with Oboro and Akeginu manages to convince Jousuke to go too. Jingorou tells Akeginu that he leaves the rest to her and she slyly replies by telling him that she shall do her best. When the four have gone Jingorou tells Nenki to go and find Tenzen. When they find Tenzen they gather around and watch intently as he reads over the scroll. The group begins to get excited about the chance to exterminate the Kouga when Jingorou mentions Shougen having visited Sunpu with Danjou Kouga, making Tenzen realise Shougen would have a scroll too. The group gets ready to kill Shougen but Tenzen tells Jingorou to head back to Iga. When Jingorou questions the decision Tenzen tells him that he needs someone to prevent Oboro finding out about the situation. Jingorou asks if he should kill Gennosuke when he returns but Tenzen advises against it, saying it wouldn't be easy to kill Gennosuke. Jingorou arrives in time to meet Gennosuke, Oboro, Jousuke and Akeginu at the entrance to Iga. He welcomes them in and leads them to the hall where the rest of the Iga clan is sitting, ready to eat. During dinner Jousuke continuously flirts with Akeginu, even suggesting they should have a child together, much to the annoyance of Jingorou and the rest of the Iga clan. When the conversation switches to where Rousai, Nenki and Hotarubi went Jingorou quickly interrupts, suggesting Oboro should show Gennosuke and Jousuke to their rooms. Later Jingorou is sitting alone in a room when Akeginu enters, informing him she has locked Jousuke in his room. He tells her to then inform the other Iga members not to mention the scroll to Oboro, which she says she has already done. Jingorou then asks if Akeginu wants to help get rid of some of the Kouga. Akeginu reminds him Tenzen told them not to but Jingorou quickly persuades her and she decides to kill Jousuke, leaving Jingorou to assassinate Gennosuke. Later, he uses his power to dissolve and climbs into the rafters outside Gennosuke's room. However, as Oboro leaves she spots him and uses her Mystic Eyes to revers his ninja skill, causing him to fall to the ground. He tries to crawl away, claiming he just wanted to propose a ninja spar but Oboro doesn't believe him. Jingorou crawls away begging for water when Oboro is interrupted by the sound of Jousuke shouting. Jingorou reaches the large pool of water at the same time Jousuke, who had tracked his slime from Gennosuke's room, does. Jousuke threatens him, telling him he had better not have done anything to Gennosuke, but Jingorou ignores him and keeps begging for water. Jousuke then holds him above the water and demands to know everything that's going on. Jingorou tells him Hanzo Hattori's treaty has been broken, which baffles Jousuke. Jingorou tells him that it means the Iga and Kouga are free to kill each other. As he says this Jingorou sprays something into Jousuke's face, causing him to lose his balance. As Jousuke falls Jingorou forces his way into Jousuke's throat, pushing him under water at the same time. Jousuke pops back out like a balloon but is being suffocated by Jingorou, who is beginning to return to normal size inside him. He falls back down and floats in the water, while Jingorou climbs out of his open mouth and smiles to himself about his victory. Tenzen's Return Jingorou appears again in a meeting with Akeginu, Tenzen and Rousai soon after Tenzen's return to Iga. Nenki enters and tells them that Okoi has been locked away safely in the storehouse. When the group begins to discuss Oboro Jingorou suggests that they tell her about the scroll, though Tenzen and Rousai both agree that Oboro would refuse to let them fight the Kouga. Jingorou later goes looking for Rousai in the storehouse and is surprised to see Okoi lying bound on the floor, almost entirely naked. She asks him to kill her and he replies that he's not surprised that Rousai got the answers out of her. She then lies and tells him she wants to die because Rousai had raped her, which catches Jingorou off guard. He then smiles and says he thought Rousai was impotent, at the same time as removing his clothes. He then attempts to rape her, but he gets stuck to her as she begins to drain the blood from him. She grabs his face to drain more blood and pushes him over, taunting him. However he comes into contact with the salt that had been dropped by Rousai and begins to dissolve, freeing him from Okoi's grasp. He then manages to slide away between the spaces of the salt containers. A short while later he emerges from the salt barrels, calling for Nenki to give him water. Nenki, who had killed Okoi, throws Jingorou into a pond outside. When Jingorou gets out he sees Akeginu shouting at him to catch the scroll, which had been thrown out of the room. He reaches for it but is beaten by Gyoubu Kasumi, who knocks him flying into Akeginu, who falls over from the impact. Jingorou, with Tenzen, Hotarubi, Koshirou and Nenki, goes looking for Gyoubu and find him handing the scroll to Gennosuke. Gennosuke the leaves to return to the Kouga village, killing some Iga ninjas and injuring Koshirou on the way. Later the Iga hold another meeting where Akeginu informs them Koshirou is blind but will live. Tenzen blames Oboro for what happened and reminds the group that Ogen, Rousai and Yashamaru are already dead. Jingorou adds that they have also lost their scroll. Just then Oboro seals her eyes with an oil given to her by Ogen, much to the shock of the other ninjas. A messenger then arrives carrying a box from Gennosuke, which contains the scroll and a letter informing them of where the remaining Kouga are heading. Jingorou notices Koshirou's name hadn't been scored out, meaning Gennosuke had known his technique hadn't killed him. Tenzen then orders everyone to chase after the Kouga, sending Hotarubi and Nenki out ahead to find the Kouga's location. Ferry Ride to Sunpu The group waits at an inn for Hotarubi and Nenki to return but leave for the harbour the next day when the pair do not return, assuming them both to be dead. When they decide to wait at the harbour, Jingorou begins to worry about crossing the sea. He asks Tenzen if they can take another route but Tenzen dismisses his request, telling him they must take the quickest route to catch up with the Kouga. Akeginu asks if he is really that scared of the sea, and Jingorou goes to explain that if he fell in it he would dissolve and be unable to return to his original form. After clarifying this his fears heighten and he shivers. Assumingly annoyed, Tenzen tells him to be quiet as they will not be swimming across; however, Jingorou continues to shake in fear. Not long after, the remaining Iga board the ship. Tenzen promptly orders Akeginu to take Jingorou to the bow of the ship and wait with him there for the rest of the journey. Jingorou sits back to back with Akeginu and listens as she attempts to calm him down. The two sit together undisturbed until Jingorou is frightened by a small object that falls on him. On edge, he turns around and shouts at a young passenger who has approached him. The two scream at each other in horror until the young boy finally falls over. Jingorou regains his composure while Akeginu returns the small object to the boy, which turns out to be a wooden frog that Koshirou has carved. The child, now less frightened, runs off with his wooden frog back to his father. Later, Akeginu notes that Ogen's hawk is acting strangely. At the same time, Jingorou realises one of the passengers is missing. He proposes that the two of them should check it out, to which Akeginu agrees to. Just as she is about to take off, Jingorou anxiously tells her not to leave him. The two argue very briefly over the topic until Jingorou resolves to leave the safety of the main cabin. Apparently in a rush, Jingorou and Akeginu enter the ship's cabin to find a confused Koshirou and Oboro with a dead Tezen on the floor. After briefly examining Tenzen's corpse, Jingorou is terrified to find out his killer. Suddenly, in an act of fear, Jingorou draws his sword and begins slashing the walls, attempting to find Gyoubu Kasumi. He then runs outside, shouting for Gyoubu to show himself, however to no avail. A passenger runs out from the main cabin, telling Jingorou to drop the sword; however, he is quickly cut down by Jingorou, causing a disturbance to mostly everyone on the ship. Jingorou continues to search for Gyoubu, but is cut short when he is suddenly tripped. Gyoubu reveals himself, striking Jingorou with terror as his hand closes in on him. Gyoubu promptly lifts him into the air with ease and goes to throw him into the sea. Jingorou screams while flying through the air and into the water, where he begins to dissolve immediately. He attempts to climb back up the ship but is unable to, and so he shouts for help from Akeginu. Wanting nothing but to help her friend, she quickly removes her robes and leaps into the sea. Aftering hitting the water she calls out for Jingorou and then swims towards him. However, by the time she reaches him, his body has dissolved into seemingly nothing. Still, Akeginu reaches out to take hold of his clothing; the action washes away the little remaining husk of his face. Realizing the loss of her friend, she holds his drenched clothes close to her. Later, before climbing back onto the boat, Akeginu states that her friend's death will not go unnoticed as she resolves to avenge him. Gently, she releases her light grasp on Jingorou's clothing, allowing the flow of the sea to carry it away. Personality Loathsome and cowardly at heart, Jingorou is one of the few Iga ninjas who specialize in assassination rather than combat, preferring to sneak up on his opponents and being quick to flee once he suffers a disadvantage. He has a huge fear of the sea and absolutely hates being on boats. He doesn't seem very liked by his comrades, with most only interacting with him to throw him in a river when he needs water. He is also rather perverted, attempting to rape Okoi when he finds her tied up in the salt shed. Abilities Dissolving: Jingorou has the ability to dissolve into a viscous semi-liquid form. He achieves this by covering himself with salt and this form enables him to slither through the tightest of passages, ooze his way up vertical surfaces, and silently creep onto his target to deliver the killing stroke. He can even crawl into his opponents throat and suffocate them. Remaining in this form for an extended period of time causes him to suffer extreme dehydration as his body gradually dries up and shrivels away, requiring him to immerse himself in water in order to restore his human form. His technique causes him to suffer an extreme fear of the ocean as the salt water would keep him in a constant fluid state and causing him to completely dissolve. Tantojutsu: Jingorou is seen carrying a tanto when he attempts to assassinate Gennosuke, though it is unlikely he can use it for anything other than stealthy assassinations. Relationships Akeginu Jingorou is quite often seen talking with Akeginu and it is her who stays with him to confort him on the boat to Sunpu. She leaps into the water after he has been thrown in, attempting to save him though is too late. However in the manga she deals with Gyoubu first and by the time she is done, Jingorou is already dead. Oboro Like many others in Iga Jingorou looks to Tenzen as a leader more than Oboro, feeling she isn't fit to lead the clan. However, he does show some concern for her and suggests that they should inform her of the treaty being broken. Trivia *Jingorou was not included in the film Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, a film based on the same source material as Basilisk. *Within the novel, Jingorou's appearance is said to be of a drowned person with blue mold growing on him. Category:Iga Ninja Category:Characters